Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-12-14
LIVE STOCK NOTES.
Facts About the Loss OF Cattle and
Scarcity Of Fed In the North
and Northwest.
Stoekmen VIII Import Graded and Thor
oughbreo stock when the Markets for
Beef Improvo-A Few Figures.

Beef Improvo-A Few Figures.
Powell Bros. yesterday got in > carload
of high grade Galloway calves. They
ship to-day ten head to TT. Holmsley,
Comanche.
~
Fifteen carloads of cattle from Atwood
& Mckenzie, Mldlald, TO Chicago, and
six cars from J. S. and D. W. Goodwin.
Merkle, 20 st. Louis, passed through the
city yesterday. Taey were all in good
condition.
Stockmen in the west say grass is IN.
proving since the rains, as it wss not
fully insured before the water came. So
long as the range is good the shippers
will not be SO anxious to get out their
stock, as it will be Just as well of on the
range.
Mr.. Caldwell, q stockman of Ennis, who
is feeding number of head of steers at
that place this year, was in the city yes
teld4y. He said there were more cattle
being fed in the vicinity of Ennis this
year than there usually are. The feed is
cotton seed mostly. a great many
are feeding the seed alone, notably
DR.. Edwards, who has about 500 head
which will not taste corn through the
season. The price paid for feeders has
been about the same this year as last, but
the feed costs great deal more. Fifteen
dollars per ton is being paid for the meal,
while the hulIs cost So to SS so at Ennis.
80
Mr.. W. Powell, the Beecher, H., dealer
in Herefords, who is in the city, feels very
confident the demand in Texas for fine
stock will take big boom in the
next two years and that the scrub
stockraising that has been so
long carried on on the plains of Texas
will be quietly laid to rest. The immense
herds, owned by foreign synd1cates, are
being supplanted by the small stockmen
who will try to make their money out of
the quality of their beef instead of out of
the number of cattle in t. cir herds; and
in order to do this they will soon find it
to their interest to grade up the stoc6
they wish to make their money out Of.
The markets for beef have been so low for
the last two years that stockmen have not
felt inclined to invest in any kind
of stock, but with better prices
next year there is no doubt great many
graded and thoroughbred cattle will be
brought into the state.
The dsiry interests of the United State s.
represent an investment of nearly FIVE,
times as much as the entire bank capital
of the country-the bank capital IS q little
less than $67I, 900, 900, while the daily
interests amount to more than S., GD0,-
600, 600. The number of mich COWS is esti-
mated st 2l,000,000, giving IN average
of $50 gallons Of milk annually, making
an aggregate production CT 1850, 90G,0Q8
gallons, 245, 900 car loads of 50, 900 pounds
TO the car; these cars end to end would
make q train 400 miles long. Four
thousand million gallons are used
for butter, 700, 100000 for cheese,
and the remaining 2,480, 600, 900
pass through the hands of the milkmsn
and grocer. The quantity Of butter man
ufectured is 1850, 000,0 900 pounds, and
$685. pounds Of cheese. 10 support
this herd of cattle 10000, 900 acres of
pasture are required.
-
Said a gentleman from Illinois last
night: "There is some dispute shout the
scarcity of grain in the north and the
loss of cattle in the northwest, but c.n
speak OF the matter as one who knows.
Some herds IN Montans last year were
depopulated by as much as 50 per cent.
and scarcely any escaped with loss of
less than q half. And the peculiar tact OF
the affair is that the losses were
to CREST extent of yearlings and cows
with calves. The exact number of head
of cattle lost it would be hard to get at,
but il must have been immense, consid-
ering the large extent Of country over
which it spresd. And you can we'll be-
lieve, when the time comes when this
stock would have been marketed had it
survived, its absence from the market
will be felt in substantial way.
"Then, as TO the scarcity Of grain,
can instance q neighbor of mine who
bought seVenty-fve head OF steers in the
early fall, on the supposition that feed
would not be so scarce as twas reported,
but after keeping the cattle for
three months ne found that he
would play losing game il he had kept
the stock, SO he sent them to the market,
getting 81 50 per head less for them than
he paid for the stock originally and the
feed he had expended on them. That was
done by q man on the spot, who was in a
position to know what the feed would be
worth. And there are plenty
of men Just like him.
Ali Indiana and Illinois grow
ers are putting animals on the
market, mostly in good condition, that
they would ordinarily feed through the
winter. Of course, this has great effect
on the market now, and accounts in some
degree for the low prices ruling, but next
spring when the absence of this stock is
noticed, there is no doubt correspond
mo rlse will he felt